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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Prospect Update: Mathieu Perreault

Today I will profile Hershey Bears center Mathieu Perreault. Perreault is a 22-year old second year pro from Drummondville, Quebec. He stands 5'10 and 174, though he seems much smaller than that on the ice. So far he has played a major role for the Hershey Bears in this year's Calder Cup Playoffs.

The Hershey Bears tore through their first two playoff rounds in a hurry and now face the Manchester Monarchs in the Eastern Conference Final. They defeated the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in 5 games in the first round and thumped the Albany River Rats in a second round sweep.

Bears #24 Mathieu Perreault

Perreault is Hershey's 5th leading scorer in the playoffs with 9 points in 9 games. He already has twice as many goals in these playoffs (4) as he had in last year's Calder Cup run, and he has already eclipsed his career high in playoff points, passing the 8 (2-6-8) he scored in 21 games last year.

Perreault has posted two 3-point games already this postseason. His last game on April 29 was a 2-goal, 3-point Game 4 performance against Albany in which he scored the game-tying goal with 1:13 left to send the game to overtime tied 4-4 before scoring the overtime game-winner and series-winner 2:23 into the extra session. He opened the playoffs with goals in consecutive games against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers before posting a 3-assist night in a Game 3 romp to continue his success against Bridgeport. Perreault posted a 4-goal game against Bridgeport as one of his two hat tricks during the regular season.

After an 11-goal, 50-point rookie season in the AHL last year, Perreault continued his strong play in the playoffs. Perreault continued his upward trend this year, posting 16 goals and 50 points in just 56 games this season. He also improved his +/- (+23 to +16).

Capitals #85 Mathieu Perreault

The former QMJHL MVP scored 4 goals and 9 points in 21 NHL games this season in is first taste of major league action. Even in juniors, Perreault was known for getting the job done in the playoffs. After a 52-point in 62-game rookie QMJHL campaign with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Perreault posted 10 goals and 21 points in 17 playoff games in 2006. He then posted 41 goals and 119 points in 67 games to win QMJHL Player of the Year in 2007 before posting 6 goals and 14 points in 12 playoff games. In 2008 he earned 2nd team All-CHL with a 34-goal, 114-point season in 65 games and posted a whopping 19 assists and 22 points in 12 playoff games before appearing in 3 playoff games for the Hershey Bears.